Elizabethton Cyclones

2021-2022 Elizabethton Cyclones Cyclones looking to force the tempo

BY IVAN SANDERS

STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

Cyclone head coach Lucas Honeycutt enters his 10th season at the helm of the Cyclone basketball team and has been known to bring the best out of his players especially when it gets down to post-season play.

The 2021-2022 season shouldn’t be any different as Honeycutt has a good stable of returning players plus a few from the football team that should help make a big contribution in the upcoming season.

“With the amount of talent we have, we expect to play uptempo,” said Honeycutt. “We want to get up and down the floor as much as possible to utilize our depth, which will be a strength for us.

“Defensively, we play man but may have to play some zone situations where we don’t match up well. We are small compared to our conference opponents, but we like that we have a number of guys who can contribute to our team.”

Honeycutt will count heavily on some of his standout players from last season to lead on the floor this year.

Those players include Jake Roberts, Nicholas Wilson, Nate Stephens, Bryce VanHuss, Seth Carter, and Dalton Mitchell who all played alot of minutes for the Cyclones in the 2020-2021 season.

Also, Honeycutt will be leading on some new additions to shore up the depth the Cyclones will be relying on.

“We expect some of our new additions to help significantly Bryson Rollins, Cade Russell, and Bradley Cannon who will all bring strength and athleticism to our team,” said Honeycutt. “Mason Ball is expected to play big minutes for us inside this season.”

The Cyclones will be playing in the new Upper Lakes Conference this season which includes Volunteer, Tennessee High, Sullivan East, Unicoi County, and Elizabethton.

The conference is working hard to bring back enthusiasm to basketball by offering a special opportunity for students from each conference school.

“Our conference is trying to get our students involved to help with the atmosphere as each school in the conference has their own student section who will all be wearing an identifying t-shirt,” Honeycutt said. “Ours will be called the “Bestys Buckets” and students who join the student section will get in at a discounted price at conference games.”

Honeycutt will be eyeing win number 200 in his career as he needs 21 victories this season to do so. His current overall record stands at 179-100.

The 2021-22 Elizabethton High School basketball cheerleaders are as follows: (front L-R) Rheagan Haynes, Lindy Simerly, and Rebekah Hardin. (Second row L-R) Xandi Crockett, Maely Ingram, Madison Holly, Haley Stresemann, and Lainey Snodgrass. (Back L-R) Hailey Beverly, Sara Zimmerman, Kiarra Kerr, Cagney Bennett, Cassidy Estep, and Morgan Guinn.

2021-2022 Cyclones Boys’ Varsity Basketball Roster

Name Jake Roberts Number Grade Position Height 0 Sr. Guard 6’0”

Bryson Rollins 1 Sr. Guard 6’1”

Nate Stephens 3 Seth Carter 10 Jr. Guard 5’10” Sr. Guard 5’10”

Bryce VanHuss 12 Kaleb Hambrick 14 Dalton Mitchell 15 Will Churchill 21 Sr. Guard 5’10” Jr. Guard 5’8” Jr. Guard 6’0” So. Guard 6’0”

Mac Paulson 22

Cade Russell

24 Bradley Cannon 42 Caleb Franklin 44 Nicholas Wilson 50 So. Guard 6’3” Jr. Guard 6’0” Jr. Center 6’5” Sr. Center 6’3” Sr. Forward 6’5”

Mason Ball 54 So. Forward 6’4” Head Coach: Lucas Honeycutt

Assistant Coach: Barry Edney, Gary Harrison, Tee Blevins Book Keeper: Kevin Harmon Statistician: Craig Emmert Trainers: Erin Kiser, Sylvester Contreras 2021-2022 Elizabethton Cyclones Schedule

30 Cosby

December 7 at Dobyns-Bennett 13 at Happy Valley 14 Johnson Co. 20 Happy Valley 27-1/2/2022 at Tampa Bay

January 4 at Johnson Co. 7 Sullivan East* 11 Dobyns-Bennett 14 Volunteer* 18 Unicoi Co.* 21 at Tennessee High* 25 at Sullivan East* 29 at Cosby

November

February

1 at Volunteer* 4 at Unicoi Co.* 5 Happy Valley 8 Tennessee High* 11 Morristown West 18-22 District Tournament @ Volunteer 25-3/2 Regional Tournament @ Greeneville

*denotes conference game